Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-01-05
MIR. AND MRS. BOWsER.
BY MRS. BOWSER.

| NIX. AND MRS. bUNSER.
BY MRS. BoWsER.
This fall Mr.. Bowsef took notion to keep
few hens. I opposed the project at once,
and recalled to mind the three or four dis
NAL failures already scored against US, but
he turned on me with that majestic air OF
his and replied:
"Mrs. Bowser, we shall keep hens. 1t is
| true that former experiments have been
failures, but there are excuses for it. In the
first place, 1 did not get the right brand OF
hens. In the next, you did not take care Of
them as youshould. The hen business, to be
madea success, must be pursued the same
as any other business
"Pve got all lean attend to without fool
ing with hens, Mr.. Bowser.
Certainly no one wants any of your help,
Mrs. Bowser. Indeed, the further you keep
away from my hens the better I shall like
bard, with her hair twisted up in q knot
and a hole showing in the heel of each
stocking, is enough to stop any hen in the
country from performing the egg business.
You just attend to your gossip and your CALI
ers, Mrs. Bowser, and I'll attend to my
poultryv'
Mr. Bowser ordered up 500 worth of lum-
ber and carpenter, and then took the chill
dren's playground for the site of the hem
merry. The two men were working around
four for or five days, and one evening Mr..
Bowser camein and said:
"Mrs. Bowser, the hennery is an accom-
/ plished fact. L. have erected structure
which even the most fastidious hen must
commend for external beauty and internal
convenience. 4 am going down to the gro
Gerry tonight 10 see how many dozen eggs
we can dispose of perWeek."
| "Can't we eat them all 2"
'.Can you thirtyr or forty dozen eggs
per week ;madam ?"
That silenced, me. The grocer said he
would take eighty dozen per week, provid-
ed they were fresh, and Mr.. BoWser came
home and made his figures as follows:
To keep of 20 hens per week ,........... .."S2 90
To sale of 80 dozen eggs per week ,...... 16 90
Clear profit, s14 90
AREN'T you figuring rather high on the
number OF eggs 90 ventured to inquire.
"High!> l should say not Pm figuring
at least ten per cent. too low. Well use
about four dozen per week, and sell eighty
dozen. That's eighty-four dozen, or twelve
dozen per day. That is less than eight
eggs day for each hen. A hen who has
our interests atIheart will surely produce
that many"
"Well, if they'll do it,"
|
know about hens makes me tired! What is
hen fefhut to lay eggs? What would be
her objeetiDd doing otherwise, or in skipping
day ~. &
Duringthe next week he was studying up
on poultry and making purchases of small
lots. Theard him talking about white and
black .sLeghorns, Cochins, Shanghais and
other kinds, andI know he paid as high as
a dollar apiece for some of 'em. Atthe end
of week he had twenty hens and a rooster,
and he sWelled with pride and said to me !:
MRS. Bowser, prepare your mouth for
fresh eggs for breakfast"
"But hens don't lay in the might, do
they, ?" asked.,
'!"They may, orthey may not. If there is
any good reason why they shouldn't | don't
know it. am going to leave lighted
lamp in the coopto-night, and if they take
a notion to lay they will find everything
handy"
Next morning he was out Of bed at day
light to pay visit to the coop, but we had
no fresh eggs for breakfast. He said that no
hen could be expected to do her best until
she had become familiar with the coop and
on speaking terms with the family. Day
after day passed, but we got no eggs. Mr..
and set to lay like an alarm clock was aban-
doned, and he boughtlime, red pepper, egg
shells, Indian meal and a dozen other things
for food. On theninth day he brought in
kaHegg. It was one INSTRUCTED the cook to
take out there and place in q nest. Bowser
come running in with it, his face all aglOW,
and as he held it UP to view he. shouted:
Mrs. Bowser, here is the living proof of
s.Yes, but don't& wake etne baby. ,,>-' -
gBaby be hanged! What's ared-faced,
waeyed tenpopnd s gaby 9aa e the fact that
Poor man! Il felt sorry for him as the
days slipped aWayland we got nomore eggs.
He brought up horse doctor, a fortune-tel-
Ter, a farmer and adog-fancier, and he care
fully followed all their suggestions, but the
result was eggless. Some one told him that
TIN. hens needed a sudden fright to set their
laying machinery in motion, and he sneak
ed out at intervals and suddenly fired an old
shotgun over the coop. No good. When
he was told that they were too warm he
ripped off the battens. When told that they
were too cold he nailed them on again. One
morning when came down stairs epaused
in his majestic pacing back and forth and
said: =
"Mrs. Bowser, while you recklessly slum-
bered last night, some one came and stole
every fowl from the coop" s.
"No!' r..
"Solemn fact. And that's the kind of a
person you are, Mrs. BoWser"
s'But I've got tosleep."
eyes, it seems SO, and at my cost. Mrs.
Bowser, Pm out about $70"
"But you caE'tblame me. didn't tell
you to 20 into the hen business"
"You didn't! Mrs. Bowser, I've always
known that you were slack housekeeper
and aIgreat gossip, but 1 did not suppose
you could look me in the face and tell a de-
liberate untruth. Farewell, Mrs BoWser-
farewell, wall-eyed babyY'sH
But he came sneaking home at 10 O'Clock
that night, and the word "hen" has not been
spoken in our house since.-DetrOit Free
Press.
THE BILL IN RELATION TO FORFEITED LANDS.
Section gives the former owners Of for
feited lands the right, on or before July /,
1887, to redeem such lands upon the pay
ment to the sinking fund commission of
the amount of the State, county, school and
municipal taxes due and charged against
said lands, and all penalties and costs which
attached thereon before such forfeiture, to-
gether with the State, county, school and
municipal taxes which would have accrued
thereon had such land not been forfeited to
the State and the taxes which would have
been so due shall be computed to be the
sum to which the regular levy Of taxes
from year to year, from the time of such
forfeiture up to the date of redemption, to-
gether with any special and municipal tax
es that would have accrued thereon, and the.
amount of the taxes, costs and penalties up
to the time of said forfeiture added, upon
which payment the commissioners are au
thorzed to issue quit claim deed.
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